“What we’ve seen, and it’s been a pleasant surprise, is a good response to a pretty eclectic mix of shows, whether when we did the original Ken Bradbury From Behind the Curtain early in the year, or whether it’s a show like 1776 or even a youth version of The Pirates of Penzance. It’s great to know that even if you’re doing something that’s a little off the beaten path, people will come out and support it.”
Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson, director of theater at University of Illinois Springfield, is determined to continue providing another kind of artistic experience for Springfield theatergoers with a taste for something different.
“In Springfield, we realize that our niche is continuing to be: we do the plays. A lot of people do the musicals around town, and we love musicals, but we’re a little more the place for dramatic literature onstage,” he explains. “Not just the classics like Shakespeare, Ibsen, Chekhov, but also the newer work that’s winning Tonys and Pulitzers on Broadway, from playwrights like Neil LaBute and Rebecca Gilman. I love a good production of Annie or Fiddler on the Roof, but we want to complement that with other things that theater can be.”
More specialized performance groups also have reason to look forward to the New Year. Carl Follin of the Land of Lincoln Barbershop Chorus says his organization experienced encouraging numbers of visitors and new members in 2011, while Julie Ratz of the Springfield Ballet Company reports higher attendance at Nutcracker than over the last few years, while alternately lamenting the lack of corporate funding available and praising the financial contributions of local enthusiasts.
Penny Wollan-Kriel, executive director of the Springfield Area Arts Council, another Hoogland tenant, is likewise excited for the future. “I think 2011 has been a better year. And yet it is still a period of struggle. For 2012, hopefully the upturn will continue – it may creep along by inches rather than feet and miles. But, as I’ve always said, the arts and artists will be here long after all of us [organizations] are gone. I think that artists will continue creating, musicians will continue to create and play, performing artists will continue in their vein as well. Of course, with the Hoogland situation, there are those of us who call this home. The space is a really important piece of the whole arts puzzle. I think we all have scaled back and hopefully we can move a little bit in the forward direction. I’m optimistic because the Springfield community, and central Illinois, is so supportive and so philanthropic in many ways.”
